Featured Guest
You’ll find this guest among our growing roll of Urban Champions.
Charlie Clark
Mayor of Saskatoon
5 Key
Takeaways
A roundup of the most compelling ideas, themes and quotes from this candid conversation|
Additional Reading
& Resources
1. Stepping up to the plate
Mayor Charlie Clark said one of the most incredible things that he’s seen through COVID-19 is the quick action of City of Saskatoon staff to reorganize city operations in a way unimaginable under normal circumstances. “I am so proud of our staff for that ability to adapt. We were able to go out to our citizens and say, ‘No matter what, we’ll be able to provide services,’” he said.
2. Rethinking partnerships for a new urbanism
While COVID-19 has been top-of-mind for Saskatoon over the last two months, Mayor Clark was quick to acknowledge that a continuing priority is how to evolve the city’s relationship with First Nations and Metis partners – and how to apply their teachings to city building. “The elders here have shared with me, that the treaty (six) is about living in right relationship on this land. And with that idea, we can change in our cities and our communities and become much more diverse and rethink our relationship with the land,” he said. “This is becoming a foundational teaching that will tie in many ways to what New Urbanism is about and what city building should be about in this next century.”
3. Creating space for new conversations
Mayor Clark posed a fundamental question about city building during the discussion: How can we create the conditions for conversations to think bigger and broader about what the future of a city will look like? “What are the risks if we do not understand what the next generation is going to be looking for in cities? What conditions do we need to be creating for what the realities of tomorrow are going to be?” he asked. “We are not trying to force any solution, but want to try new things, and we are looking for latitude to try and fail.”
4. Four-Corner Table
The Big City Mayors Caucus and the Federation of Canadians Municipalities have been talking more and more about a “four-corner table” – bringing together municipalities, provincial governments, the federal government and First Nations’ governments, “In recent years, when there is a misalignment between the federal and provincial governments, municipalities end up stuck in between,” Mayor Clark said. “Canada is an urban country now. And if we are going to successfully rebuild the economy . . . we must recognize that without cities, the country’s rebuild is going to be much more difficult.”
5. Marriage between expert opinion and local knowledge
Mayor Clark said that collaboration has been important to the city’s success. “Saskatoon wants to make some very big, bold moves that in many cases can be completely divisive within a city and can completely turn into ‘us versus them,’” he said. He added that the way the city approaches decisions is by balancing thoughtful expert opinion with the important local knowledge that people have. “People are so aware of their street, their block, their sidewalk . . . in city building, we see the importance of relationships, importance of trust, and importance of communication.”
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Full Panel
Transcript
Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software. Manual editing was undertaken in an effort to improve readability and clarity. Questions or concerns with the transcription can be directed to events@canurb.org with “transcription” in the subject line.
Full Audience
Chatroom Transcript
Note to reader: Chat comments have been edited for ease of readability. The text has not been edited for spelling or grammar. For questions or concerns, please contact events@canurb.org with “Chat Comments” in the subject line.
11:32:53 From Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
11:33:42 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff : Today’s one-on-one conversation is with Charlie Clark, Mayor of Saskatoon, SK.
https://twitter.com/charlieclarkyxe
https://charlieclark.ca
11:33:58 From Canadian Urban Institute: CUI is looking for volunteers to help us continue the great work of our COVID-19 initiatives. If you can help, please contact us at covidresponse@canurb.org
11:34:42 From Laurel Davies Snyder: Good morning from Stratford, ON!
11:34:44 From Canadian Urban Institute: Folks, please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
11:36:34 From Canadian Urban Institute: Keep the conversation going #citytalk @canurb
11:43:43 From Jared Stephenson to All panelists: 1st – applaud council and administration on navigating this crisis quite well so far.
11:44:17 From Canadian Urban Institute: Welcome new joiners! Just a reminder to please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
11:48:17 From Jared Stephenson to All panelists: Question: to what degree do municipal election cycles hamper bold or aggressive municipal decisions for risk of imposing large or unpopular change on ratepayers?
11:49:17 From Alyssa Lefebvre: Edmonton
11:59:28 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff: https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2020/may/19/meep-2020
12:04:15 From Abby S: Amen to that
12:07:16 From Canadian Urban Institute: CUI is looking for volunteers to help us continue the great work of our COVID-19 initiatives. If you can help, please contact us at covidresponse@canurb.org
12:10:26 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff: Please help CUI improve its CityTalk programming with a short post-webinar survey – https://bit.ly/2ZEVX2O
12:12:52 From Canadian Urban Institute: You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
12:15:05 From Brent Penner to All panelists: We really haven’t the pop density to do that – certainly not in our Downtown…we’ve canvassed businesses on streets and they were not supportive either…we have nice wide sidewalks and wide streets, and they want to retain the access for all modes of transportation to get to their destination….we have lots of green space too. City took the right position and business supported that.
12:16:10 From Canadian Urban Institute: Keep the conversation going #citytalk @canurb
12:21:20 From Brent Penner to All panelists: The above info was from Saskatoon – thanks to Mayor Clark for how they’ve handled things thus far!
12:22:19 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff to Brent Penner and all panelists: Can you repost that information to all panelists and attendees?
12:23:02 From Brent Penner: We really haven’t the pop density to do that – certainly not in our Downtown…we’ve canvassed businesses on streets and they were not supportive either…we have nice wide sidewalks and wide streets, and they want to retain the access for all modes of transportation to get to their destination….we have lots of green space too. City took the right position and business supported that.
12:23:11 From Brent Penner: The above info was from Saskatoon – thanks to Mayor Clark for how they’ve handled things thus far!
12:26:58 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – from Samuel Beckett’s 1983 story Worstward Ho
12:29:10 From Jared Stephenson to All panelists: Want to discuss crisis in historical sense in how it has allow some of the most seismic changes that are otherwise impossible for reason of politics, social acceptability, etc.?
12:30:57 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-importance-of-teaming
12:31:06 From Abby S: the corollary is do or do not…there is no Try…Yoda
12:31:50 From Ryan Walker: Wonderful to hear from Mayor Clark. Thank you CUI.
12:32:20 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff: Please help CUI improve its CityTalk programming with a short post-webinar survey – https://bit.ly/2ZEVX2O
12:33:12 From Abby S: The work of CUI is ever more important in responding to your question Mary
12:34:58 From Abby S: What a remarkable story…
12:35:54 From Laurel Davies Snyder: Thank you Mary and Mayor Clark.
12:36:23 From Joanna Clark to All panelists: We have a lot to learn from each other as our cities respond…worth looking at the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction with a key priority to build resilience and “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction
12:37:18 From Andrea Calla: Thank you Mayor Clark and Mary for a most informative discussion.
12:38:43 From Abby S: Thank you Mayor Clark and Mary!
12:38:46 From Abby S: Be kind
